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Group Members: Mike Barnett, Tom Hofer
All Music Guide:
An indie rock subversive who has been known to perform in dresses almost as much as his ex-wife Courtney Love, Falling James (Moreland) has led the Leaving Trains with a revolving lineup since the group formed in 1980. Originally in a Los Angeles punk band named the Mongrels during 1978-1979, Falling James formed the Downers in 1980 (with David Roback, later of Mazzy Star, and John Hoffs, the brother of the Bangles sisters) and then the Leaving Trains later that year, with guitarist Manfred Hofer, bassist Tom Hofer, keyboard player Sylvia Juncosa, and drummer Hillary Laddin. The band gigged around the area during the next three years, but included only the Hofer brothers by the time Leaving Trains debuted on vinyl with 1984's Well Down Blue Highway, on Bemisbrain/Enigma Records.
In contrast to Falling James' earlier material, the first album practiced a kind of restraint in short supply on the West Coast punk scene (restrained only in comparison, of course). After the group's first LP for SST, Kill Tunes, however, the Hofers were replaced with musicians of more energetic means, guitarist Mike Barnett and bassist Eric Stringer. Over the course of 1987's Fuck, the following year's Transportational D. Vices, and 1991's Sleeping Underwater Survivors, Falling James concentrated on the most vigorous, self-loathing material available to him, amplified considerably by a new guitarist even more in-tune with noise, Bobby Belltower (formerly of the Nymphs). After both bassist and drummer left the band in 1991, Falling James formed a new band, the Power of Sky, with bassist Whitey Sims.
The Power of Sky proved short-lived as well, and later that year, James returned to Leaving Trains with Sims, Belltower, and new drummer Lenny Montoya. The confusion stalled recording until 1993, when The Lump in My Forehead appeared on SST, with Sims taking vocals on several cuts. Predictably, that version of the band also disintegrated, replaced by bassist/producer Chaz Ramirez and drummer Dennis Carlin, who began recording 1994's The Big Jinx. In the span of about a year, Ramirez was killed in a warehouse accident, James finished the LP, played in a side band named Sluts for Hire, was kicked out of the group, and formed a new Leaving Trains, with keyboard player Melanie Vammen, bassist Jimmy Green, and drummer Allen Clark. Following 1997's Smoke Follows Beauty, the eighth album by the group, SST released the compilation Favorite Mood Swings.
Wikipedia:
The Leaving Trains were an American indie rock band from Los Angeles, California. The Leaving Trains were founded in 1980 by Falling James Moreland, a frontman who became known for his chaotic performances and penchant for cross-dressing. Falling James had previously been a member of punk rock bands The Mongrels and The Downers before assembling the group with guitarist Manfred Hofer, bassist Tom Hofer, keyboardist Sylvia Juncosa and drummer Hillary Laddin. They played locally for three years before releasing their first album, Well Down Blue Highway, in 1984.
Following their Kill Tunes LP (1985) for SST Records, Mike Barnett and Eric Stringer replaced the Hofer brothers in the group's lineup. Next came Fuck (SST, 1987) ,Transportational D. Vices (SST, 1988), and the Loser Illusion EP. Sometime during the 1980s Falling James was married to Courtney Love for a short while. In 1991 Moreland briefly disbanded The Leaving Trains to form The Power of Sky. Along with Power of Sky's bassist, Whitey Sims, Moreland reassembled a new Leaving Trains with Bobby Belltower (who had briefly played in the previous incarnation of the band) and Lenny Montoya. This lineup produced the album The Lump in My Forehead (recorded 1992, released 1993), but later in 1992 Chaz Ramirez (also known as a producer of such bands as Social Distortion and Stryper) and Dennis Carlin took over on bass and drums, respectively. Ramirez died on December 2, 1992 (of injuries sustained when an attic floor collapsed underneath him - some of his recordings with the Trains were posthumously released in 1994 on the album The Big Jinx), and Moreland was subsequently kicked out of the group, after which he formed a new band under the same name with Melanie Vammen on keyboards, Jimmy Green on Bass, and Allen Clark on drums. This lineup yielded Smoke Follows Beauty in 1997. The Leaving Train's last studio album, Emotional Legs, features a variety of musicians: Melanie Vammen (now on guitar), Dennis Carlin, Maddog Karla, Miss Koko Puff, Andrew Buscher, Allen Clark, and Jimi Green. Emotional Legs was released on Steel Cage Records Steel Cage Records in 2001. The Leaving Trains, that same year, would also do their final live performance at The Knitting Factory in Hollywood as a backup band for Australian punk pioneer Rob Younger, performing songs Younger had done with Radio Birdman and The New Christs. In 2005, Steel Cage Records released a live Leaving Trains album called Amplified Pillows. Mark Lanegan of the Screaming Trees has cited their first album, Well Down Blue Highway as a major inspiration.
Moreland is currently a music writer for the L.A. Weekly and no longer performs music. Rumors that Moreland would start a new Leaving Trains with the Hofer brothers have circulated, but as of 2011 no plans for a new Leaving Trains have come to fruition.Cite error: There are <ref> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist}} template (see the help page).
